S.F. Treat: Super Bowl in 2003

NFL owners voted Wednesday to award San Francisco the 2003 Super Bowl, to be played in a new stadium that will replace 3Com Park.

San Francisco will be getting its Super Bowl four years later than originally planned. The owners had initially awarded the 1999 game to the city, but that was contingent upon a proposed $26-million upgrade to 3Com Park. Instead, voters in June approved a $525-million mall and stadium complex to be built next to the current park.

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NFL owners first rejected then approved the Rams’ move to St. Louis from Los Angeles, but throughout the process were ignorant of the league’s guidelines for moving franchises, lawyers for St. Louis said Wednesday.

That point was driven home by lawyers for the St. Louis Convention and Visitor’s Commission during the commission’s $130-million antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.

Four team owners testified on videotape that they were, in part, unaware of the league’s nine guidelines regarding team relocation. They were Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Jr., Cincinnati’s Michael Brown, New Orleans’ Tom Benson, and Chicago’s Mike McCaskey.

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Faced with few other options to spark his 2-4 team, Philadelphia Eagle Coach Ray Rhodes benched Ty Detmer and named Rodney Peete his starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

“The change is being made to try and get some juice,” Rhodes said. “Both guys have won for this team, and I want to give Rodney a shot at this time.”

It will be Peete’s first start this year, but he was the Eagles’ starter at the beginning of last season. He led Philadelphia to a 3-1 start but sustained a season-ending knee injury in a 23-19 loss to Dallas in Week 5.

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The Carolina Panthers are getting a new quarterback for the fourth time in seven games this year.

Coach Dom Capers said that Kerry Collins, benched earlier this month after turning the ball over nine times in two games, would return to the starting lineup Sunday when Carolina (2-4) plays in New Orleans.

Capers announced the move after determining that Steve Beuerlein, who strained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in last week’s loss to Minnesota, was unable to move around adequately in Wednesday’s practice.

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The head of the NFL players union wants to talk to the commissioner about the “inadequate” conditions the Oilers are practicing in during their first season in Tennessee.

According to a copy of a letter obtained by the Nashville Banner, Gene Upshaw wrote to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Monday to express his concerns. Copies also were sent to Oilers owner Bud Adams and Oilers players.

Upshaw wrote that he witnessed the conditions during a recent visit to the practice facility. He wrote that he saw poorly maintained practice fields with one temporary goal post for kickers. The Oilers have been using a portable goal post on the field.

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Larry Brown’s indefinite suspension by the Oakland Raiders became a definite four weeks, but Coach Joe Bugel refused to elaborate on what constituted “conduct detrimental to the team” and quickly cut off questions about Brown.

“It’s between the player and me. It’s over. I’m not going to talk about it any more, period,” Bugel said. “It wasn’t an organizational decision, it was mine. I felt in my heart I had to do something with Larry.”

The Raiders signed linebacker Aaron Wallace to replace Brown.

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Offensive lineman Joel Davis has fulfilled his military commitment and been cleared to rejoin the Cincinnati Bengals for practice today.

TONIGHT’S GAME

SAN DIEGO (3-3)

at KANSAS CITY (4-2)

* Kickoff: 5 PDT.

* TV: TNT

To Marty Schottenheimer, the San Diego Chargers are living proof of the old adage that it’s not whom you play that counts, but when you play them.

During the first three weeks of the season, the Chargers were a woeful 1-2 and the Kansas City Chiefs were in the middle of a four-game winning streak.

Since then, the Chargers (3-3) have gotten their bearings under a new coaching staff and won two in a row, including a 25-10 victory over Oakland. And the Chiefs (4-2) have seen their winning streak ended by a lackluster performance that led to a 17-14 loss to Miami in their last game.

After taking a bye week to rest and reflect, the old AFC West foes resume a rivalry tonight that dates to the birth of the AFL in 1960.

“The Chargers are certainly a better team than they were four or five weeks ago,” Schottenheimer said. “They struggled early. But I think part of that had to do with [linebacker] Junior Seau being injured.”

History suggests the Chiefs will win if they hold the Chargers under 100 yards rushing and win the turnover battle. The six times they’ve beaten San Diego since 1992, they’ve limited them to 73.1 yards on the ground and been a plus-seven in the giveaway/takeaway column.

In the Chargers’ five wins in that time, they’ve rushed for an average of 120 yards and been a plus-four in turnovers.